Cup-making machine



P. F. BUQHANAN CUP Mmm@ MACHINE Filed July 3,5 o $4,925 2 Swtshwt l xii ATT

Patented Sept. 15, 1925.

,NTED STATES PETE?, r. BUCHANAN, or LoNDoN, ONTARIO, CANADA.

CUP-MAKING MACHINE Application led- .Tuly 16,

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that 1, PETER F. BUCHANAN, a subject of the Kind of Great Britain, residing in the city of QLondon, inthe county of Middlesex, Province of Ontario, Canada, have invented certain new and useful Improvements iny Cup-Making Machines, of which the following is a specification. y

This invention relates to machines for making 'paper' cups such for example as sho-wn in my co-pending application No. 615843 filed Jan. 30th, 1923. In suchmachines the cup blanks are cut from a plurality of superimposed strips of paper and pressed to a cup form vby suit-able forming dies, 'finally passing out through a tubular forming die. i

In such machines I have found that if waxed paper be employed in the manufacture of the cups that the paper requires to be heated before the dies operate upon it. I have found further, that if heated before passing tothe dies, it tends to warp and buckles It is also found that if the cups are` svide means whereby the finished lcups may be held in vshape after passing from the dies for. a sufficient length of ytime for them t0 cool down or to be dried out, as the case` may be, before they -are nally discharged for packing.

-. I. attain my object by Vmeans of.the con# V"structions hereinafter described and illustrated in the which p Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a cup-mak1nggv accompanying drawings in `machine constructed in accordance with my invention; I

Fig. 2 a side elevation of the upper paper Fig. 8 an end elevation of the paper heating and smoothing elements;

Fig. 4 a side elevation, partly in section, on an enlarged scale, of the lower part 0f v the apparatus; Fig. 5 a plan view of the rotary wheel 1923. Serial No. 651,849.

which conveys the finished cups from the forming dies; and i Fig. 6 a cross section of the wheel.

In the drawings likenumerals of reference indicate corresponding parts in the different figures.

lv is the base of the machine suitably shaped to support the different parts. Un this base is supported lthe standard 2 at the upper end of which is journalled the cam shaft 3. The table 4 is also supported on the base.

The arrangement of the forming dies is old in the art, but a brief description of the same will be given herein. 5 is a movable cutting' die suitably guided on the standard 2, and this cutting die co-operates with the stationary cutting die 6, which is supported on the table 4. This die is recessed to receive the annular flange 7 of the tubular sta tionary forming die 8. With this flange -7 of the stationary die cooperates the movable holding and forming die 9. IVith the tubular stationary ,forming die 8 co-operates the movable die 10 carried by the plunger 11.

The movable parts are all suitably supported on the standard 2 land are operated from the cam shaft 3, whichis provided with eccentrics12 and 13 for that purpose. The shaft is also'provided with a pulley 14 or other means whereby it may be rotated.

I The precise:` construction of the dies and their mode of operation is, however, immaterial for the purposesv of the present invention, which mainly concerns itself with the feedI ofthe paper to the dies and the disposal ofthe finished cups after they pass from the tubular die 8.l

Supported from vthe base 1 is a stationary paper heating*` and smoothing element 15. This is arranged to be heated, preferably by ymeans of an electric heating elementl contained within it and which'is conventionally shown in Figy4. Supported in co-operative position relative to the stationary heating and smoothing element is the Vmovable heatheating. element 18 lconventionallyl shown in* Fig. 4. This movable heating and smoothing element is preferably guided between flanged guides 19 secured to the element 15 'by means of thumb screws as indicated particularly in Fig. 3. The paper is drawn 'bef ij the feed rolls 20 actuated as hereinafter described.

The paper is drawn from a plurality of' v' faces so that the tendency of heat-ed wax paper to buckle and Warp Ais overcome. The l paper thus passes to the dies in the best ossiblecondition for the latter toy perform t eir functions of cutting out from the strips of paper the disks forming the cup blanks and forming these blanks into the'finished cups.

To receive the finished cups, I provide a l plurality of pockets 2,5 which are so arranged that they may successively be brought into co-operative position with the tubular die 8 to receive the cups ejected therefrom. In the preferable arrangement these are formed on the periphery of a wheel 26 mounted on a horizontal shaft 27. The pockets are preferably tubular so that cups l may be pressed through them as hereinafter described, but this construction is not essential if ejecting meansrbe provided whereby the cups may be ejected from the side of the pocket throu h which they enter.

This wheeV is arranged to .be rotated in,

synchronism with the feed rolls 2O as hereinafter described and in synchronism with the movements of the forming dies, the die 10 descending tol the positionshowyn in 4 and ejecting a cup or ycups at such time as apo/cket 25 is in a position to receive the `ejected cup or cups.

vFrom vths construction it follows that the cup or cups which are ejected from the tubular 'die in the heated condition are cooled as the wheel rotates, so that bythe time the wheel has completed va revolution and broughtthe particular pocket again into alinement with the tubular die, the ejection of the next cup or cups from the tubular die forces the cup already in the pocket out of the pocket as indicated in Fig. 4. f

If moistened paper be used instead of waxed paper for the formation of cups, the members 15 and 17 will 'not be heated and it may be desirable to remove the upper heating element.- In this case,`however, the wheel 26 with its ockets 25 has to perform the function of rying the finished cups. For this purpose I provide means for heating the pockets 25. For this purpose I provide each pocket with an independent electric heating element 28. These elements are all connected with the circular contact plates 29 and 30 suitably supported on and insulated from the wheel. Power is fed to these plates through the medium of brushes 31`from any suitable source of supply. v

The wheel 26 and the feed rolls 2() are operated by the following mechanism. On the cam shaft 3 is secure-d a cam-32, which is adapted to engagebne end of a bent rock arm39 secured to a shaft 33 journalled in the standard 2. One arm of this bent rock arm is connected by means of a pin and slot connection 34 with a slide rod35A suitably guided on the standard 2. The lower end of this rod carries a pivoted dog 36 which is adapted to engage the ratchet wheel 37 formed on or connected with the wheel 26.

-A spring actuated retaining' dog 38 is also provided to retain the wheel 26 as moved by the pivoted dog 36. Another arm of the bent rock arm 39 is connected by means of a pivoted connecting rod 40 with an arm-41 pivoted on the spindle 42 of a ratchet wheel 43. This arm 41 carries a dog 44 adapted to co-.operate with the ratchet wheel. Itwill be seen that the ratchet wheel 43 will be operated synchronously with the wheel 26. The ratchet wheel is connected with a gear wheel 45 secured to the spindle of the upper feed roll 20 which also meshes with ythe gear wheel 46l secured to the spindle of the lowerY feed roll 20, so that both:` rolls are driven. Any other means, however, th'an. that described may be provided for actuating lthe :wheel 27 and the feed rolls 20.

From the above description it will be seen lthat I have ,devised mechanism which will 'satisfactorily attain the object ofmy invention as set out in the preamble ofthis speciication and that the paper fed will be suitablyheated and smoothed before passing to the dies and the finished cupsy thereafter cooled, andthat when the machine is operating on moistened paper, the finished 'cupsmay be satisfactorily dried.

It should be understood that by the term paper in this specification and claims, I mean not only any material commonly known as paper, but also any substitutes therefor and any material which can be satisfactorily handledlby the machine.

What I claim as my invention is 1.V In a cup forming machine the combination of forming dies; means for feeding means for holding the paper in Contact with said surface.

4. In a cup forming machine the combination of forming dies; means for feeding a web of paper to the dies; and two heated surfaces between which the paper passes to the dies, said surfaces being yieldingly pressed towards one another.

5. In a cup forming machine the combination of forming dies; means for feeding a webof paper to the dies; a plane heated surface over which the paper passes to the dies; and means for holding the paper in contact with said surface. n y

6. In a cup forming machine the combination of forming dies; means for feeding a web of paper to the dies; and two plane heated surfaces between which the paper passes to the dies, said surfaces being yieldingly pressed towards one another.

7. In a cup forming machine the combinaa tubular forming die and a plunger adapted to eject formed cups through said tubular die; a rotatably mounted wheel provided with a plurality lof peripheral pockets adapted to be brought into alinement with the .tubular die to receive cups ejected pockets.

7 die; a rotatably mounted wheel providedv with a plurality of peripheral pockets adapted broughtinto alinement with the tubular die to receive cups ejected therefrom;A an electric heating element applied to each pocket; and concentric contact'rings ony said wheel to which the' heating elements are connected.

10. In a cup forming machiney the lcom'- bination of forming diesgpmeans for feeding a web of paper to the dies; aplane surface over which the paper passes to the dies; and means for holding the paper in contact with the said surface.

11. In a cup forming machine the combination of forming dies; means forfeeding a web of paper to the` dies; and two plane surfaces between which the paper passes to the dies, said surfaces being yieldingljv pressed towards one another.

12. In a cup forming machine the combination of forming dies; means for feeding a web of paper Vto the dies; a stationary heated surface over which the paper passes to the dies; and a movable heated surface adapted to rest on top of the paper on the aforesaid stationary surface and mounted so as to be vertically movable.

13. In a cup forming machine, the combination with cup forming mechanism, of means for feeding a plurality of strips of paper thereto vand a plurality of heating Uvunits between which the strips of paper are passed.

14:. In a cup forming machine, the com bination with mechanism for shearing cup blanks, of feeding mechanism for feeding a strip of paper to said shearingmechanismv comprising a feed table having a heating unit thereon under which the strip of paper is adapted to, pass.

15. In a cup forming machine, the com` bination with cup forming mechanism, of mechanismy for feeding strips of paper to said formingmechanism, and heating means between which the strips of paper are passed during the feeding movements thereof.

16. In a cup forming machine, the combination with' cup 'forming mechanism, of mechanism for feeding strips of paper thereto comprising a feed table, a heating unit on said feed table under which the strips -are adapted to pass, and heating means beneath said table.

17. lIn a paper cup forming machine, the combination with cup forming mechanism, .of mechanism for feeding strips of paper to said forming mechanism, and a plurality of electrically heated units defining a heated path through which said strips of paper travel.

Signed at Toronto Can. this 6th day of July 1928.

- v PETER F. BUCHANAN. 

